Many food products include sweetener ingredients made of sugar or non-sugar sweeteners, especially in the form of solid particulate sweeteners, as with powdered sugar. The solid sweetener particulates are generally made of a sugar, and each particulate is solid and homogeneous sugar material. The solid sweetener particles may be included in a dough or a batter, or may be included in a sugar (or other sweetener) coating applied to a surface of a food product, placing the sweetener particles at the exterior surface of the food piece. Examples of foods that include sugar or sweetener coatings with sweetener particles at an exterior surface include snack foods; candies such as those that contain a sweet or sour powdered coating; baked goods such as cookies (e.g., sugar cookies), donuts (e.g., powdered sugar-coated donuts), and other pastries; bars such as lemon bars, brownies, and the like; and ready-to-eat pre-sweetened breakfast cereals.
Commercial preparers of sweetened food products continuously desire to make their food products easier or more efficient to manufacture (e.g., lower cost), more healthful, or otherwise more desirable to consumers. One way that food products are sometimes made more desirable is by reducing the amount of sugar in the food.
In opposition to interest in improving manufacturing efficiency, lowering cost, and reducing sugar content, is that expectation that changes made to a product composition (e.g., ingredient) or its method of preparation will often be reflected in the finished food product. Changes in the composition or preparation of commercial products should be of a type or degree that do not negatively impact consumer perception of the product, especially if the product is an established commercial product such as a well-known breakfast cereal. Consumers come to know a product or product type based on taste, physical appearance, texture, cosmetic appearance (color, sheen), and overall look and feel. A change in the composition of a well-known food product such as a breakfast cereal may be healthful or otherwise desired, but may not be commercially acceptable if the change also produces a noticeable change in the taste, physical appearance (e.g., color), texture, or overall look and feel of the cereal.
A sugar coating at an exterior of a ready-to-eat breakfast cereal can be particularly susceptible to undesired affects caused by a formulation change, because the sugar coating is highly visible and is often a major constituent of a sugar-coated breakfast cereal. In pre-sweetened breakfast cereals that contain sugar coatings, a large portion of the breakfast cereal may be made up of a sugar coating (often powdered sugar), sometimes up to 25 or 35 weight percent of the cereal, or more. Consequently, a change to this part of the pre-sweetened cereal piece, for example a change to the sugar or powdered sugar ingredient, may have a significant impact on the taste, appearance, or other property of the sugar coated cereal piece.
As an example, certain types of breakfast cereals include coatings of applied sugar (or other sweetener) particles, e.g., in the form of fine solid sugar particles such as powdered sugar or the like. The coated powder material provides desired flavor to the coated cereal pieces, i.e., sweetness, but also inescapably affects one or more other product features such as color (dry, or in milk), density or bulk of the cereal pieces, sheen, moisture resistance, and others. A food producer desirous of reducing the amount of sugar in the coating will wish to avoid altering the color, density, bulk, sheen, or moisture resistance of the cereal pieces, to the extent possible, especially in an established product for which consumers have existing expectations as to these properties. As a result, reducing the amount of sugar in a sugar-coated breakfast cereal is a difficult challenge. If a portion of sugar in a sugar coating is removed, that portion of sugar must be replaced to avoid a reduction in sweetness. Additionally, however, the removed amount of sugar must also be replaced as to its physical presence and properties, to avoid an undesired change in the color, density, bulk, moisture resistance, or other mechanical or physical properties of the coated cereal piece, to ensure product consistency. The alternative, allowing any one of the look, feel, bulk, taste, density, sheen, etc., of the cereal product to become altered, either increased or decreased, improved or otherwise, may not be a practical or desired option when working with an established commercial product.
Powdered sugar is a common ingredient in food products, including for use in sugar coatings at a surface of a food product. As an example, RTE cereals include powdered sugar in sugar coatings on an exterior surface of cereal pieces to increase sweetness of the cereal. The powdered sugar is responsible for flavor (sweetness), but also inherently adds other noticeable properties to a food product coated with powdered sugar; these properties can include color (powdered sugar is white), bulk (due to the density of the powdered sugar), sheen, moisture resistance, and texture of the sugar coating.
For various reasons, food producers may desirably wish to reduce the total amount of sugar, e.g., sucrose, fructose, etc., in a food product such as a sugar-coated breakfast cereal. In breakfast cereal products, this can mean reduced sucrose in a sugar coating. One reason to reduce sugar is to include a reduced level of total sugar in the food product, considered to be generally desirable as healthy. Additionally, sugars such as sucrose and fructose can be expensive. Reducing the amount of sugar in a food product, therefore, would be desired as being both potentially healthful and cost effective, especially if the reduction can be accomplished without negatively affecting other properties of the food product. Ongoing interest exists to reduce the amount of sugar (typically sucrose or fructose) in foods, such as but not exclusively meaning pre-sweetened breakfast cereals, while maintaining other physical and mechanical properties of the food product. Pre-sweetened cereal products with reduced levels of sugar would desirably exhibit efficient preparation and processing, desired texture, flavor (sweetness), bowl life, and other eating qualities, and visual appearance, at least comparable to previous pre-sweetened cereal products containing standard levels of sucrose.